Retired General Remains in Jail as Rape, Incest Trial Postponed Again

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James J. Grazioplene, a retired two-star Army general.
Retired two-star Army general James J. Grazioplene. (US Army photo)

The jury trial of retired Army Maj. Gen. James Grazioplene on rape and incest charges has been postponed for eight more months.

Grazioplene was scheduled to face trial Monday, but Prince William County's Circuit Court has continued the proceedings until Sept. 14, according to Christina Shaw, a deputy clerk at the Circuit Court Clerk's Office.

The two-star, who retired from the Army in 2005, was arrested Dec. 7, 2018, and indicted by a Virginia grand jury on three counts of rape and three counts of incest allegedly involving his daughter between Aug. 1, 1987, and May 31, 1988, according to the Dec. 3 indictment documents.

The Army charged Grazioplene in 2017 with violating Article 120 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice with six specifications of rape of a minor on multiple occasions between 1983 and 1989, The Washington Post reported.

Related: Retired Army General's Trial on Rape and Incest Charges Postponed Again

But the Army dismissed the case after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled there should be a five-year statute of limitations on rape charges, according to an Army Times story.

The current indictments against Grazioplene do not name his victim, but The Washington Post story reported that Jennifer M. Elmore, 47, said in an interview that she first reported to the Army in 2015 that her father, Grazioplene, had sexually abused her when she was a child.

When reached for comment, Elmore's attorney, Ryan Guilds, declined to comment on the case.

Military.com contacted Grazioplene's attorneys -- Thomas Pavlinic and John Irving -- to find out why the trial has been continued but did not receive a response by press time.

Grazioplene's trial was continued twice in 2019. His original trial date was postponed from April 29 to Sept. 3 and then continued until Jan. 27 to give his attorneys more time to locate key witnesses, according to the Defendant's Notice and Motion to Continue.

Grazioplene remains in custody at the Prince William-Manassas Regional Adult Detention Center, according to an official at the jail.

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.

Read More: Judge Denies Bail for Retired Army General Charged with Raping Daughter

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